Dawn Staley

As of May 12, 2014

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Dawn Staley, head coach at the University of South Carolina, will pull double duty for USA Basketball in 2014. Staley on May 12, 2014, was announced as an assistant coach to the 2014 USA World Championship Team and was previously named as head coach for the 2014 USA U18 National Team.

No stranger to USA Basketball, Staley as an athlete won a total of 10 gold medals, including three Olympic and two FIBA World Championship gold medals, one bronze medal and seven international invitational titles from 1989-2004.

She then transitioned into the coaching ranks, received her first USA Basketball coaching assignment as an assistant to the 2006 USA World Championship Team and was later asked to remain on board through the 2008 Olympics. With Staley on the sideline, the USA National Team from 2006-08 posted a 32-2 record, captured the 2008 Olympic and 2007 FIBA Americas Championship gold medals and the 2006 FIBA World Championship bronze medal.

This year will not be the first Staley has undertaken two different USA Basketball coaching roles. Prior to the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship Staley received her first USA head coaching nod at the helm of the 2007 USA Pan American Games Team and did not disappoint. Taking a group of collegians to Brazil to compete against seasoned international veterans, Staley piloted the USA Pan Am Team to a perfect 5-0 slate and the gold medal.

Most recently Staley served as a court coach for the 2013 USA Basketball Women’s National Team mini-camp.

Staley was a fixture on USA Basketball teams nearly every year from 1989-2004. A two-time USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year (1994, 2004), Staley was voted by all U.S. team captains in 2004 to carry the United States flag and lead the USA's delegation into the Athens Olympics Opening Ceremonies.
Additionally, Staley was named the MVP at the 1994 Goodwill Games and served on the USA Basketball
Executive Committee as an athlete representative.

Capping an illustrious international basketball career with her third Olympic gold medal in 2004, Staley first competed for USA Basketball as a member of the 1989 USA Junior World Championship Team, and through the years USA teams with Staley on the roster posted an amazing 196-10 record (.951). She was a key in numerous successes for her country and amassed a total of 10 gold medals and one bronze on the world stage. In addition to the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympic golds, Staley was on hand as the U.S. captured a pair of FIBA World Championship golds (1998 and 2002), while also helping the red, white and blue land on top of the podium at the 1999 U.S. Olympic Cup, 1994 Goodwill Games, 1993 World
Championship Qualifying Tournament, 1992 R. William Jones Cup and 1991 World University Games. Her bronze medal came as the U.S. rebounded from a heartbreaking semifinal loss in the 1994 FIBA World Championship to return home with the bronze medal.

One of her more impressive international highlights include being a member of the historic 1995-96 USA Basketball Women's National Team that rolled up a 60-0 record, captured the 1996 Olympic gold medal and was named the 1996 USA Basketball and U.S. Olympic Committee Team of the Year.

Having recently capped her sixth season (2008-09 to present) at South Carolina, Staley now owns an overall record of 121-71 (.630 winning percentage) record at the school and posted 25-win seasons in each of the past three years.

In 2013-14 Staley led the Gamecocks to a 29-5 mark, the program’s first Southeastern Conference regular
season title and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, where she advanced her team to the Sweet Sixteen. Staley in 2014 was named the SEC Coach of the Year, WBCA Region 3 Coach of the Year and was one of four finalists for the Naismith National Coach of the Year award.

In addition to her winning record at SC, Staley in her six seasons has advanced South Carolina to three NCAA Tournaments, reached the 2012 and 2014 NCAA Sweet Sixteens and was the 2012 Black Coaches Association National Coach of the Year.

Prior to arriving at South Carolina, Staley was the head coach at Temple for eight years (2000-01 through 2007-08), where she took over a program that had not seen a winning record since the 1989-90 squad went 16-15 and had never won the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament. She turned the program around in her first season and led the Owls to six NCAA Tournaments and captured four A-10 Tournament titles. In all, Staley compiled a 172-80 (.683) record and had six 20-plus win seasons.

Her exploits did not go unnoticed. The 2005 WBCA Region 1 Coach of the Year was named the 2004 and 2005 A-10 Coach of the Year; and the 2001, 2002, 2005 and 2006 Philadelphia Big 5 Coach of the Year.

Including her eight seasons as head coach at Temple University, Staley owns a career coaching record of
293-151(.660 winning percentage) in 14 seasons as a collegiate head coach.

During her four years at the University of Virginia (1989-92), her teams compiled a 110-21 record for a sparkling 83.9 winning percentage, appeared in four NCAA Tournaments, including three Final Fours (1990, 1991, 1992), finishing as NCAA runner-up in 1991.

The 1991 and 1992 National Player of the Year as a junior and senior, Staley was the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year in each of those years and was named to the ACC's 50th Anniversary Women's Basketball Team in 2002. Virginia received outstanding play from Staley in the NCAA Tournament, and she was rewarded with Most Outstanding Player honors following the 1991 Final Four. She garnered 1991 and 1992 All-Final Four honors and was the NCAA Regional Most Outstanding Player in 1990, 1991 and 1992.

Enshrined into Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013, Staley in 2012 was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.

The recipient of the 1998 American Red Cross Spectrum Award, which celebrates women who have made outstanding contributions to their communities, Staley has been honored on numerous occasions for her work with inner-city Philadelphia children through the foundation that bears her name, including the 1999 WNBA Entrepreneurial Spirit Award.

In 2006 Staley was presented with the 2006 Temple University Hospital Auxiliary Diamond Award and honored with the 2006 Distinguished Alumna Award for the University of Virginia.

A two-year ABL and eight-year WNBA veteran, Staley saw action in six All-Star Games, one in the ABL (1998) and five in the WNBA (2000-03, 2005-06). The WNBA announced the inception of the Dawn Staley Community Leadership Award in 2007. The honor is earned by the WNBA player who best exemplifies the characteristics of a leader in the community in which she works or lives.